Punchbowl Blog

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO

As Punchbowl has evolved over the years, we’ve had a number of great partnerships with companies like Oriental Trading, 1-800-FLOWERS, and LivingSocial. As a start-up, these partnerships have been important to our company and critical to our growth.

Now that we’re in the last quarter of our fiscal year, I’m spending most of my time planning for next year. We have a plethora of possible partnerships in front of us — and I’ve decided to hire a senior person to join our team to help us with sales and business development. In the past we’ve had great success spreading the word about key new hires on our blog and on social media, so we’ll try it again. If you know anyone that might be a great fit for this position, please share this post. Thanks in advance!

VP, Sales & Business Development

Punchbowl.com is looking for an experienced consumer-internet sales and business development person to drive revenue for the company. We’re looking for a senior person with a proven track record of closing deals with large media companies and consumer national brands. The VP of Sales & Business Development will report to the CEO at the company’s Framingham, MA headquarters.

Job Description:

• Sell custom brand sponsorships to drive incremental monthly revenue on our consumer site
• Sell email advertising sponsorships to companies and agencies that are interested in presenting relevant, timely offers to our registered user base
• Identify and sign co-brand and white-label licensing deals with digital media companies and online retailers to extend the distribution and reach of our products
• Develop and report on key traffic metrics to quantitatively gauge the impact of all business development activities
• Work with the CEO to define new markets and customers to sell our suite of products

Position Requirements:
• 7-10 years experience and successful track record with sales & business development in a consumer setting
• A large rolodex and strong reputation in digital agencies, digital media, and consumer package goods
• Significant experience with relationship management, traffic acquisition, and analysis in an online business
• Proven project management skills with the ability to multi-task
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Enthusiasm and passion with readiness to join a startup

To apply for this position:
1) Create a user account at http://www.punchbowl.com and check it out
2) Send a *ONE PAGE* resume, quick impressions of the site, and brief introductory email to punchbowljobs [at] gmail [dot] com.

We *DO NOT* pay recruiter fees. Please: no recruiters or headhunters.

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

We’re hiring! Punchbowl is looking for a few new people to join our fun and casual start-up culture. We’d really appreciate if you could spread the word about these positions - we’ve had great success hiring through word of mouth. Thanks in advance for spreading the word!

Positions open in our Framingham, MA office:

Senior Product Manager
The Senior Product Manager will be responsible for analysis of customer needs and market trends as well as identification of new areas for product development. A key aspect of this position is to monitor progress of products through the product development life cycle. This position works closely with engineering and marketing teams to execute new products and programs.

Experienced Ruby on Rails Developer
We are seeking to add another accomplished Rails developer to our growing team. The ideal candidate is extremely talented in Ruby on Rails and has been using Rails extensively in consumer-facing web applications for more than a year. Expert knowledge of Javascript, HTML, and CSS and previous TDD experience is also required.

Product Specialist
The Product Specialist position is a hybrid role of QA and technical support. We’re looking for an excellent, web savvy communicator who enjoys problem-solving and is eager to learn. This role will provide high quality support to Punchbowl users as well as product testing. Product testing or quality assurance experience is ideal, but not required.

Office Manager
We’re looking for a part-time Office Manager who has raw intelligence, a superior memory for details, and a great sense of humor. The ideal candidate will be available from 11am-2pm every day of the week. This position reports to the CEO. Read the job posting on Craiglist. 

Inside Sales
The Inside Sales position will be responsible for generating and maintaining new business relationships. The ideal candidate is passionate, assertive, and driven to reach and exceed their goals. Previous experience in sales is required.

Marketing & PR Intern
The Marketing & PR intern will be exposed to a variety of marketing and public relations activities, including email marketing, advertising, social media marketing, press outreach, and content development. This is a great opportunity for a marketing or pr major, though it is not a requirement. We’re looking for a college student with a car as we’re not located near public transportation.

For more information about these positions and for information about how to apply, visit our Careers page.

Thanks again for your help!

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO

Last week, I wrote about how I receive a lot of resumes. In my blog post, I implored potential employees to create a one-page resume. I’ve gotten a fair amount of feedback about this blog post. In general, most people agreed with me that a one-page resume is sufficient — especially for jobs at a startup.

Today, I’d like to talk about another phenomenon that I see all too often in my inbox: potential job candidates that send me their resume with an email that says “resume attached.”  Our job postings always say something to the effect of “Please send a *one page* resume, quick impressions of the site, and brief introductory email to…” Even with this very clear set of instructions, each time we post a position I get a handful of emails where the applicant only writes “resume attached.” No introductory email, no impressions of the site, no nothing. Only “resume attached.”

Here’s what’s particularly puzzling about this phenomenon: I’ve actually opened a few of the resumes, and once in a while I see a decent candidate. Yet if the candidate didn’t bother spending the time to write an introductory email, I know they are not going to be the right kind of employee for Punchbowl. We want to hire people who pay close attention to details and care about first impressions.

I decided to write this blog post so that I could send it to anyone who sends me an email that only says “resume attached.”  If you are one of these people, please reconsider your approach. You might be a great candidate for Punchbowl Software, but we’re never going to find out unless you put your first foot forward in a way that shows us that you care. Please don’t bother sending an email that only says “resume attached.” If you don’t care enough to spend the time, than neither do we.

By the way… we are currently hiring great Ruby on Rails developers. If you’re interested in applying for the position, here’s the Ruby on Rails job description. We look forward to reading your resume — and your introductory email.

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO

I get a lot of resumes. At any one time, we are advertising for at least a few open positions at Punchbowl Software. Most recently, we have been seeking a full-time Director of Business Development, and an additional senior Ruby on Rails engineer to add to our development team.

In every job posting, we always include the following line: “Send a *one page* resume, quick impressions of the site, and brief introductory email to jobs at punchbowlsoftware.com.” Note that the phrase “one page” has asterisks. Sometimes we’ll even bold “one page” to make it stand out even more.

On an average day, I’ll receive 15-20 resumes in my inbox. And like this morning, the vast majority of the emails are from people who send me a multi-page resume. In most of the cases, the same people send me a form letter email (something that they wrote once and send to every job posting). Why do they even bother? Do they think this is going to land them the opportunity to interview at Punchbowl? The instructions we provide are clear, succinct, and should take the average person no more than 30 minutes. Is that too much to ask?

I’ve been criticized in the past for asking people for a one-page resume. I’m often told that there is no way to fit their vast experience on a single page. So why do I want a one-page resume? Here are a ten reasons:

1. Your resume is your first chance to market yourself to me. I believe that quality over quantity is more important.
2. Our job description includes very specific instructions. If you can’t follow these instructions, how are you going to be as an employee?
3. One of the most important qualities in any employee is the ability to be succinct. If you can’t do it on a resume, how are you going to do it when we are sitting in meeting at 6pm on a Tuesday evening and everyone wants to go home?
4. A one-page resume is sufficient to tell me the relevant experience you’ve had in the last 10 years. Believe me, I have a resume that could fill up 3 pages too.
5. I don’t care what job you held in 1985 (or even 1995). It’s not relevant to a consumer internet startup in 2009. Just tell me what you have done over the last 10 years. That’s sufficient.
6. I don’t care that you were a waitress, firefighter, volunteer or private detective. We are a consumer internet company. Tell me about your relevant experience.
7. I don’t care what you did in high school.
8. I don’t believe that you are “the best”, “the most” or “the missing piece to your organization.” The more over the top you are, the less I believe you.
9. Spare me the 12 bullets under each part of your resume. Give me 3-5 bullets of your most important accomplishments for each relevant position.
10. Please don’t list every educational certificate you have ever received in your life. Your weekend marketing seminar does not make you a marketing guru.

If I’ve sent this post to you, it’s likely because you just sent me a multi-page resume — and you completely ignored the instructions in the job description. If you want our consideration for the position, please send me a one-page resume.

My guess is that 50% of the people that read this post won’t bother spending the time to send me a one-page resume. That’s ok — you’re probably not the right fit for our organization anyway. For those who do choose to send me a one-page resume, it does not guarantee that you are going to be asked in for an interview. At the end of the day, your relevant experience is what matters the most.

I hope this post is useful for those who really want to become a part of Punchbowl Software. And for those who feel the need to send me an angry rant: I welcome your email. I always find them amusing.

This post written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO

Anyone who has interviewed at Punchbowl Software has most likely been subjected to the “Monkey test.” Truth be told, I’m not sure when or how it all started. My guess is that I probably had a lot of interviews that week and I was simply looking to spice them up a little. The monkey test has become part amusement, and part enlightening. Most importantly, it makes every interview candidate smile, which is worth it in itself.

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a reporter from Mass High Tech named Galen Moore. During our lunch, we covered a lot of topics about MyPunchbowl and somehow the conversation turned to startup interviewing techniques. Galen lit up when I told him about my monkey test, and we brainstormed about an article that would cover unique interview techniques.

The results of Galen’s research were published in this week’s Mass High Tech. I think he did a great job with the article except for one MAJOR mistake. Galen and his team decided to take a photo of the other company that they interviewed for the article. When I spoke with Galen about this, his reasoning was that they thought a picture of the “Fenway Park” cafeteria (from the other company) would be a great cover shot for the newspaper. Well Galen — you should have learned something from CareerBuilder: *everyone* loves monkeys. We could have rented a monkey and taken photos all around town. Me + monkey would have sold DOUBLE the number of copies that your silly Fenway Park shot did. And one other thing: I’m pretty sure you stole from me the one chance in life that I will have to be on the cover of a significant publication with a real monkey. I’m really, really hurt. How could you deprive me?

Anyway, besides that, the article was very good…. here’s the part of the article where Galen covered the “monkey test.”

Execs throw new tricks into hiring process: by Galen Moore

Punchbowl Software Inc. is hiring, and CEO Matt Douglas promises that no job candidate gets a pass on the monkey test.

The Framingham-based online event-planning startup has 10 employees. All of them have seen the coffee-table book Douglas keeps in his office titled “Monkey Portraits” (Bulfinch 2006). In the middle of job interviews, Douglas pulls out the book and asks candidates to pick the monkey that best represents their mood. Once the book is open, Douglas says, “By the way, you have 15 seconds.”

The monkey test may be exotic, but it’s just one among a collection of tricks executives and recruiters use to gauge a potential hire’s aptitude for working on a startup team. Whether the candidate is a potential CFO or a marketing intern, such tests seek to reveal the DNA of an entrepreneurial mind. In difficult economic times, when more and more people are looking for work, companies are equally focused on finding the best candidate for the positions they are filling.

The monkey test shows how a person will respond to a direction that may not seem valid, Douglas said. In startups, he explained, there’s often no time for negotiation or disagreement. Following that, it shows how a candidate makes decisions when time is tight.

“I’ve actually sat with people who can’t make a decision on picking a monkey,” Douglas said. “If they can’t make a decision on picking a monkey, how are they going to make a decision when it really matters?”

Read the rest of the article on Mass High Tech. Oh, and if you’re up to it, send me a Monk-e-mail. I can never get enough.

This post was written by Briana Hall, Marketing Intern

Well here I am writing my first blog post as a marketing intern at MyPunchbowl. It has been almost one month to the day that I wrote the infamous email. Without question it got more feedback than I would have ever imagined. Judging by many of the comments from that and subsequent posts, I’m sure the question that you’re all wondering is, how is it going? In short, fantastic.

I’m just finishing up my first week here at MyPunchbowl and while this week was spent getting to know everyone, learning about the company, and getting introduced to some of the tools they use and projects I’ll be working on, there’s much more yet to come.

Over the next few months I will post updates to the MyPunchbowl blog to share what I’m working on and how things are going. I’m sure I will have funny stories, and boring stories, and maybe even some embarrassing stories. However what I’m sure I will have is a lot of stories on growth, both professionally and personally. This will definitely be a learning experience and I’m glad you are along for the ride.

This blog post was written by a prospective intern candidate — a candidate who ignited a flurry of comments on the original blog post “A story about spunk and fight“ Before you read the post below, please read the original post and the follow up post “MyPunchbowl intern candidate, part 2“

One other important note about the below blog post: this post is EXACTLY what I was sent by the intern candidate, and I’d like to clarify one thing before you read the post. For the record, I didn’t walk into the conference room and ask her if she was a bitch — that question came about 10-15 minutes into the interview after we were joking around together. It was said completely in jest, and any reasonable person would have found it funny (and not inappropriate) given the banter in the room. For the record, what I actually said was something to the effect of “I’ve received lots of emails and comments about your original email — what everyone wants to know is ‘was that just an isolated incident over email or are you really a bitch?’”

After you read the post below I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think this candidate should be hired as an intern at MyPunchbowl? Why or why not?

——————

“Are you really a bitch”, asked Matt Douglas as he walked into the conference room Tuesday morning. “Ahhhhhh! NOOOOOOOO, I’m not I swear!”  I said laughing out loud with my head in my hands. This was my first encounter with the man whom I wrote one of the nastiest emails of my entire life to just days before. In the next hour and ten minutes we covered everything from my prior work experience, to why I want to work at Mypunchbowl, to whether I’m pro Jen or Pro Angelina, and of course we “touched” upon the infamous email. Why? That was his first question.  Now before I go on I’m sure of a lot of you folks were asking the same question. Why would this girl, who wants…scratch that…needs a job so bad, send back such a response? Well you are just going to have to wait one more minute.

Matt concluded the interview by assigning me two tasks. The first one was his 24 hour test.  The second was to write a follow up blog addressing three issues.

1. The nice people who responded
2. Satan’s cousins who responded
3. Why Mypunchbowl.com should hire me

Oh shit I thought. What the heck am I going to say to the Liz Philllips’ of the world? After one legal pad, a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups, and a glass of wine later, I had my final answer Regis, human nature.

Now Liz I don’t know how it is in Canada, but here in the United States people sometimes have a bad day, ey? That email was shot off after days, weeks, no make that  months of stress from this atrocious economy, coupled with 250…that’s right a quarter of a thousand…resumes sent out with no luck, and a days worth of diminutive tips. Was it rash, brash, and crass, of course it was, but did it let off a lot of steam? You bet your lucky Maple Leafs jersey it did.

I didn’t think I did the right thing or a very beneficial thing by sending that email. However it was just one of many that I sent that night into the dark abyss of cyberspace, with not a lot of hope and a pounding headache. So when my Blackberry went off fifteen minutes later with Matt’s response, I used the email as my outlet. But folks please keep in mind, did I know Matt was tall, bald, attended UNC, drove a black Acura, had a wife named Jessie, and celebrated Ground Hog day, no I did not. Mypunchbowl.com was just another open job listing on Craigslist and I couldn’t take rejection #251. To some this email was like screaming into a pillow, or writing in a journal. As tears welled up in my eyes, I thought why did I even go to College? Was it to be the first one in my family of seven with a College degree? Was it because all the cool kids were doing it? Was it because of the sweet discounts at EMS, the Y, and the tanning salon? No. I did it because I wanted to. I did it to better myself, and be self supportive. I felt that everything I worked so hard for, meant nothing and that people like this Matt Douglas guy want me to fail. Had I stepped away from the computer, walked outside into the 10 degree temperature, or went upstairs to play Wii tennis for ten minutes, I’m pretty sure that reply email would most likely never have existed. It was a momentary lapse in judgment and for that I’m sorry.

In addition, contrary to some of your beliefs, I do not believe that Matt Douglas owes me ANYTHING, I get plenty of socialization, and I’m pretty sure no one in the room is wearing body armor. The last time I threw a “tantrum” was at the tender age of eight when I got the beating of my life demanding “new clothes” while back to school shopping at the Salvation Army. And that “large chip” on my shoulder helped hold up my family when my mother went into Septic Shock last November, and left a seven year old boy worried and scared. Am I the best person on God’s green Earth, no I’m not. Am I the smartest? No I’m not.  However I believe that I deserve this second chance, and I’m ready to give Mypunchbowl all of my spunk and fight.

And now in response to the people who had my back. I thank you. I know what I did was unprofessional, to say the least, but when it comes to remembering that we are all human, its people like you that I want on my team. It is people like you that I hope are nurses, doctors, and teachers. People like Liz, Lorne, and Lynnelle should stick to jobs like blogging, bounty hunters, and process servers.. I’m kidding. But in all honesty it was your faith in humanity, and kind words that made sure I was at that interview Tuesday morning.

At the age of 24 my career is just taking flight. I know that there are many bumps on the road ahead and I will encounter a lot of different personalities as I go. I will not always be right and there will be a lot of sacrifices.  Most importantly I know that I’m very fortunate to have had the chance to re-do my first impression, had Matt Douglas been a one of the disagreeing commenter’s, I would not have been so lucky. On paper I might not be the most qualifying candidate, and some of you may still believe firmly that Matt is disregarding the red flags and is making a huge mistake if he hires me. However, I want this position at Mypunchbowl more than anything. I want to Work under Mr. Douglas and Ms. Fader and learn about this thriving start-up. I want to learn more about how websites work, and what it takes to keep them going. I want to be able to put down some solid marketing experience on my Resume, and learn more in the world of blogging which is growing at record speeds. Will this girl’s spunk and fight get her the position, I don’t know, but this experience is something that I will remember forever.

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

As you probably know from Matt’s two previous posts, MyPunchbowl is looking for a Marketing & PR intern. I haven’t weighed in yet publicly regarding “A story about spunk and fight” because we’re still in the process of reviewing other candidate’s resumes and I’d like to remain fair and open-minded. I will admit that I have concerns about how this public debate is affecting our overall intern search. What do other candidates think? Will applicants be afraid to work here?

I finally had some time between a board meeting and a new site release to read through the emails from internship applicants waiting in my inbox. Trust me, there are plenty more typos and grammar mistakes. The thing that gets me is that most of the candidates aren’t following the instructions we gave them for applying!

Here’s the job posting as it appears on Craiglist:

Do you want to get solid marketing experience and be involved in a cutting-edge Web 2.0 company? Punchbowl Software, the developers of MyPunchbowl.com, is looking for an enthusiastic Marketing Intern to join our fun, software startup environment. MyPunchbowl is an award-winning site for event and party planning.

Who you are:
• You are intelligent and well organized
• You have excellent writing skills
• You are energetic and creative
• You have an excellent memory and attention to detail
• You are web savvy, particularly with social networking sites
• You have marketing experience from previous internships and/or coursework

Responsibilities:
• Represent and promote MyPunchbowl on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook
• Expand MyPunchbowl’s presence in the blogosphere
• Implement a relationship management tool for keeping track of bloggers
• Assist with press announcements and other marketing activities
• Various writing tasks as needed
• Assist with office and administrative tasks

This is a semester-long internship; 15–20 hours per week. We are located in Framingham, so you must have a car. Compensation: $10–15 per hour, based on prior experience.

To apply for this internship:
1. Create a user account at MyPunchbowl and check it out.
2. Send a *one page* resume, your impressions of the site, and brief introductory email to jobs at punchbowlsoftware dot com

What I end up getting is an email from candidates telling me about themselves. Sometimes they don’t even do that, they just send the resume. No impressions of the site. No reference to signing up and trying out MyPunchbowl. Part of why we ask for this is to 1) see if they can follow instructions and 2) to evaluate their writing skills. By not following these simple instructions, they’re basically telling me that they aren’t either of the first two things we’re looking for on the job posting!

Unlike Matt, I haven’t written to anyone who didn’t follow instructions to make them aware of their errors or grammatical mistakes. But on the flipside, I probably won’t give their resumes much consideration either. Is it really that hard to follow instructions?

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO

Last week, I wrote a blog post about an interaction I had with a prospective MyPunchbowl intern candidate. If you haven’t read “A story about spunk and fight” I hope you will take a few minutes to read it now. Here’s the readers’ digest version: a woman emails me with a great subject line, but a glaring spelling error. I respond by pointing out her error, wanting to see her response. She responds with an outpouring of anger and frustration. I write back, challenging her to face the person she insulted.

The comments to that blog post have been overwhelming. The one thing everyone wants to know: how did the interview go?

Fast forward to Tuesday. The intern candidate interviewed at the MyPunchbowl office. My first impression of her: she was *very* different than her email. She was timid, contrite, and anxious. Clearly she never thought she would be sitting face to face with the person who she wrote things like “well let me tell you something mister” and “your little wanna be company.”

However, the intern candidate was thoughtful and personable, and I thought that she presented herself well. She had a great sense of humor, and when she finally relaxed, I found that she had interesting ideas and thoughts about MyPunchbowl. Most importantly, she was very prepared for the interview. She brought writing samples, a fresh resume, and had clearly spent a lot of time reading everything she could online (even some old blog posts I wrote about interviewing. For example, I was surprised when she referenced this post about how to nail the “24 Hour Test”)

During the interview, I challenged her on a lot of things. I challenged her about the email she wrote (and for the record, I was quite blunt in my questioning). I pushed her to tell me more about why she decided to respond with such vitriol. We met for about an hour, and I left the room with the clear message that not only was she very sorry but that she had prepared very well for the interview.

So what’s the next step? What is the next logical step in this story? I decided that the only way to really know who she is as a person was to ask her to write a blog post to respond to all of the blog comments. How would she address those who are critical of her? How would she respond to the people who have such harsh words? How would she deal with those who seem to hate her?

Her blog post will be posted soon. But I would love to know your thoughts. What are you hoping she’ll address in her blog response?

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO

This is a story about spunk and fight.

It begins with a job posting last week. We’re currently hiring for a marketing intern position. On Thursday afternoon, our Marketing Manager (Stephanie) posted the position on Craigslist. Later that same evening, I spent some time reviewing the emails from people who were interested in the internship. One particular email caught my eye — it was simple, but the subject line was different than others in my inbox. But as I opened the email, I realized that the same subject line that I liked so much had a glaring typo “Great Canidate for intern postion” Could I look beyond the typo? Did the person have the attention to detail that is critical to an internet startup? I pondered what to do.

I decided to send a quick email back to the candidate, to see how she would respond. Here is my email:

Your email subject caught my eye — but the spelling error causes me not to look at your resume further. Thought you might like to know for the future. All of that stuff matters.

- Matt

I know that I didn’t have to send that email, but this person had a great resume. I know I was being a little harsh, but I wanted to see what would happen. Would she ignore the email? Would she say thank you? Or would she apologize and ask for another chance? I can’t say I expected what happened next. Here’s the email that I received back:

Great Matt!  Thank you so much!!! After working an eleven hour double at my waitressing job then coming home only to jump online for two hours to continue  the job search, its people like you that make me wonder why I continue! Would it have been all that hard for you to simply hit delete??? Well let me tell you something mister, you lost one of the most dedicated,hard workers your little wanna be company could have had. So I hope you find your little Miss/Mr. Perfect that spelled the subject of their email correctly because Mommy and Daddy supports their butt, and were well rested and enthusiastic, not completely exhausted and burnt out from a day of serving rude people like you! And you know what if you did read the rest of my resume you would have seen that Public Relations was my core concentration. The experience was all I wanted, but nooooo because one little word was wrong, because I was tired as hell, because I busted my butt for four years, because I put my heart and soul into my studies,  I’m penalized. Thanks.

Wow. What brutal honesty. What fight. So I immediately wrote her back:

You’re the kind of person I want to hire.

Here’s why: I grew up in a large family that had little money. My first job was at age 12 — working everyday after school doing landscaping. By age 16 I was working most nights (managing a small movie theater). I put myself through college (and still have $50K in loans).I like your spunk, and I like your fight.

Now, that being said…. it’s important for me to know that if you were going to be representing the company (even on Facebook or MySpace) that you would indeed be well rested and not burnt out. As you can imagine, I got lots and lots of resumes for this position. If you were in my shoes, you would need some way of filtering them. Yes, I could have hit delete, but I liked your email. I wanted to see how you responded.

So, now it’s your choice. You can choose to hit the delete button and you can erase the potential opportunity. Or you can choose to face the  “rude person” that actually *does* understand what’s it’s like to work in a job where you are under-appreciated and over-worked. I’ll even let you continue your rant (complete with insults) right in my office. And hey, maybe I’ll even buy you lunch and we can decide the right tip amount together.

About an hour after I sent this email, she called my cell phone. We had a great conversation. She was well-spoken and personable and we both had a good laugh over our email exchange.

So she’s coming into the office for an interview this coming Tuesday. I don’t know if this story will have a happy ending, but I do know that a startup is all about kicking and screaming to stay alive. You have to have spunk and you have to have fight. Finding people who have this quality is rare. We’ll see what happens next.